For the first time since Osio Cinemas in Monterey abruptly shut its doors seven months ago, a serious timeline for its reopening is making the rounds.

According to city leaders, the former independent movie house could be up and running May 1.

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“It's the first time that, in conversations with the landlord's representative, that we've talked about an opening date (of) May 1st, so yes, I think we are very close,” said Rick Marvin, the property and housing manager for Monterey.

The city is closely tied into the negotiations because it owns the land the cinema and a nearby café sit on.

Marvin said the City Council would have to agree to any sublease the building owner makes with Le Prince LLC.

Le Prince LLC is behind the effort to reopen the Osio and was started by former employees of the Osio and the current owner of Café Lemuir.

The council is tentatively set to review terms of the lease at its April 19 meeting.

When the downtown theater closed last July, a kickstarter campaign was immediately started to raise $70,000 to help bring back the theater. People donated more than $76,000.

But seven months later, some people are beginning to wonder what happened to the money and when the theater would reopen.

Brandy Lamb, the owner of Café Lemuir and principal partner in the new company, wasn’t available Wednesday for comment and an attorney who represents the company, Kari Rawlings, didn’t return a call for comment.

Lamb originally told Action News the theater would open last October.

That didn’t happen and supporters of the theater said the new operators are tight-lipped about their plans, raising concerns whether or not they’re capable of running a profitable movie house.

“A lot of people in the community are concerned about that and I'm certainly concerned. That doesn't demonstrate that they have the marketing acumen necessary to make the new cinema an ongoing enterprise” said Andrew Kennedy of Pacific Grove.

Other movie goers hope the theater comes back stronger and more popular than ever.

“I liked the small theaters, the popcorn, the interesting movies they had, different, yeah. I'd be really glad,” said Michelle Parravano.